You won't want to miss the fun at these Foundation activities during the NATA Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposia in Atlanta.  The NATA Foundation Golf Classic, NATA Foundation Night and NATA Foundation Fun Run/Walk … there's something for everyone!  Your participation will help the NATA Research & Education Foundation continue to offer a wide variety of programs and activities to help Athletic Trainers do their jobs more effectively every day!  Click here for more information!

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Foundation President Mike Sitler reports that the “Infusing Evidence-Based Medicine into Athletic Training Research and Clinical Practice” Summit held January 13, 2006 in Atlanta, GA was a success.  Instrumental to success of the summit was the joint financial support provided by the NATA and Foundation Boards of Directors which allowed costs for participants to be held to a minimum.  A total of 62 individuals participated in the summit.

Based on solicited and unsolicited oral and written feedback, the summit was of high quality and useful to those in attendance.  One attendee commented that  . . . “the lecturers had interesting and informative presentations, were knowledgeable in their subject matter, and effectively interacted with attendees,” which summarizes the sentiments expressed by many in attendance.

Based on feedback from participants, there appears to be interest in holding future summits, workshops, etc. on EBM.  No decision has been made in this regard, but the prospect of holding future EBM educational opportunities will be considered at the appropriate time.  As this is an important, emerging area in the health professions, providing additional educational opportunities on EBM would serve to further facilitate its infusion into athletic training educational settings and clinical practice.

Thank you again for providing financial support to advance EBM into the athletic training profession.

Please take a moment to complete this brief survey on Evidence-Based Medicine. http://at.uwa.edu/nataref/ebmsurvey.htm

Research Programs

• Over $700,000 in grants awarded in past three years

• Approximately 200 Free Communications Presentations/Posters were presented at the NATA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis

• Foundation grant recipients presented their findings to the NATA membership

• Abstracts of original research were published in the summer supplement to the Journal of Athletic Training

• 30,000 NATA members received an original research supplement to the Journal of Athletic Training

• Grant Information Summaries, published from funded research projects, were made available to NATA members through the Foundation website and at National and District Meetings

• The Medal for Distinguished Athletic Training Research presented in honor of Joseph S. Torg, MD

• The New Investigator Award presented in honor of Freddie H. Fu, MD

• Doctoral Dissertation Award presented in honor of David H. Perrin, PhD, ATC

Education Programs

• $136,000 awarded through Foundation Scholarship Program

• Distribution of free palm cards on Sudden Death in Athletes

• Funding for development of Home Study courses

• Funding for Athletic Training Educators’ Conference

• Distribution of Sudden Death Summit position paper

• Presentation of Lecture Exchange Program with the AMSSM, AOSSM and ACSM

• Educational research/program grants

PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE

When landing from a jump, individuals with weak hip abductors allow their hip to adduct and knee to move into more valgus, which places the knee in a potentially vulnerable position for injury.

STUDY BACKGROUND

Weakness of the hip abductors has been associated with chronic knee injuries such as patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFP). The proposed mechanism for PFP is increased hip adduction and internal rotation, which is thought to increase knee valgus and tibial external rotation. The combination of these rotations has also been described as a common mechanism of non-contact ACL injury, specifically when landing from a jump. During this activity, the hip abductors help maintain neutral pelvic and lower extremity alignment, which may reduce the risk of injury. It is unclear as to what role hip endurance, strength, and landing leg preference has on knee and hip alignment during landing.

OBJECTIVE

To compare hip and knee joint kinematics when landing from a jump in physically active individuals that have differing levels of hip abduction strength and endurance.

DESIGN AND SETTING

This clinical laboratory based protocol used two mixed model 2 x 2 repeated measures design.  The independent variables were strength (strong, weak) and fatigue state (pre-fatigue, post-fatigue) for the first analysis. The independent variables were endurance (high, low) and fatigue state (prefatigue, post-fatigue) for the second analysis. The dependent variables analyzed in both analyses were hip and knee 3-D kinematics.

SUBJECTS

Thirty healthy subjects (15 women, 15 men; age=23.8±2.9 yrs).

MEASUREMENTS

Subjects completed 3 pre-exercise trials (Lpre) of a double-leg hop with a single-leg landing. (Figure 1)  The length and height of the hop were controlled as a percentage of each subject’s height.  Mean peak joint displacement values for the hip and knee were collected during the trials. Hip abductor strength was then determined as the subjects performed 3 maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC). Subjects then maintained 50% of their MVIC to the limits of their endurance.

Following 20 minutes of rest, subjects completed a 30 second bout of isometric hip abduction, again with 50% MVIC. From this, we determined the percent of maximal endurance utilized.  Immediately following the bout of exercise, subjects completed 3 post-exercise landing trials (Lpost). For statistical analysis, subjects were stratified into groups based on their hip abductor strength and endurance.

RESULTS

Subjects with strength values above the median landed with less hip adduction and knee valgus than the weaker subjects. (Figure 2) There were no differences in knee and hip motion when the subjects were stratified by endurance. There was a low, but significant inverse relationship between hip abductor strength and knee valgus displacement during both the Lpre (r = -0.30) and Lpost trials (r = -0.39, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The hip abductors contribute to neuromuscular control of the knee when landing from a jump.  Strength of the hip abductors may play a more vital role in controlling knee motion than the endurance capacity of this muscle group.
 

Publication and Presentation List:

• Jacobs C, Mattacola CG, Uhl TL, Shapiro R, Rayens WS. The influence of hip abductor strength, endurance, and asymmetry on lower extremity landing kinematics. Southeast Athletic Trainers’ Association Clinical Symposium, Atlanta, GA, 2005.

• Jacobs C, Mattacola CG, Uhl TL, Shapiro R, Rayens WS. Relationship of hip abductor strength and endurance with the kinematics of landing. Journal of Athletic Training. 2005 (suppl);40:S65.

On the December 14, 2005 Board of Directors Conference Call, the Foundation Board approved a total of $171,727.00 funding for the following grants:

General Grants

• R. Dawn Comstock, PhD
  Columbus Children’s Research Institute
  “On-Line Surveillance of High School Sports Injuries”
  $84,811

• Peter Giacobbi, PhD
  University of Florida
  “Occupational Stress, Coping and Burnout Detection in the Athletic Training Profession”
  $54,779

• John A. Mercer, PhD
  University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  “Shock Attenuation Characteristics for Children Runners”
  $28,517

Osternig Master's Research Grants

• Nicole L. Craig, BA
  University of Northern Iowa
  “Validation of Accelerometers as a Measure of Knee Dysfunction and Recovery”
  $1,000

• Lyndsay Smith, BS, ATC
  Georgia Southern University
  “Effect of Attention Focus Interventions in Anterior Tibial Shear Forces During Landing in Females”
  $1,000

• Eric J. Simmons, ATC
  Arizona School of Health Sciences
  “Conservative Vs. Operative Intervention for Atraumatic Glenohumeral Instability in The Overhead Athlete:  A Systematic Review”
  $620

• Eric A. Sorenson, BA, ATC
  University of Oregon
  “Prostaglandin E2 Production Associated with Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage”
  $1,000

Congratulations to the District II membership under the leadership of District II Chair Steve Bair for winning the Annual Fund Contest for 2005.  The district that reaches the highest percentage of its goal based upon its number of members wins the competition.  In 2005 District II  reached 199.98% of its $16,040 goal by raising $32,077 through district, state and member contributions.  In addition to District II, six other NATA Districts reached over 100% of their goals for 2005.

2005 Annual Fund Contest Results and 2006 Goals

NATA Research & Education Foundation web pages have been created for each of the ten NATA districts to provide detailed information regarding individual district  and state representative contact information, listings of district grant, scholarship and award recipients as well as links to numerous reports, presentations, donation forms, grants, and scholarship information.  Click below on the appropriate link to learn more about your district's involvement with the Foundation.

NATA Research & Education Foundation Grant Deadlines

• Apr. 1, 2006: Project Grant Program applications due.
• Apr. 15, 2006: Master's Research Grant applications due.
• Aug. 15, 2006: General Research Grant applications due. Pre-Proposal Submission Form required.
• Oct. 15, 2006: Master's Research Grant applications due.
• Dec. 1, 2006: Abstracts due for 2007 Free Communications.
• Feb. 10, 2007: Scholarships applications due (postmarked).
• Feb. 15, 2007: General Research Grant applications due. Pre-Proposal Submission Form required.
• March 1, 2007: Doctoral Research Grant applications due.

Education Programs

Planned Giving Is An Option With The NATA Foundation

NATA Research & Education Foundation
2952 Stemmons
Dallas, TX  75247
214.637.6282
www.natafoundation.org